Class for the Advancement of Underprivileged Girls

A division of the Tibetan Elementary School, Gyumed Town, Dari County, Qinghai Province

September 2006

Dear Friends, Brothers & Sisters

My name is Dockpo Tra and I was born into a humble nomad family in the Golok region of Tibet.  The reason I started this project is not because I am rich.  It’s not because I am a great man.  The main reason is because I believe we are all human, and we all need to work for the common human good. Why is this?  Having a nice, comfortable home, caring for one’s family and relatives – this is good, but still not ideal.  Since I have the chance, my hope is to do more.  So what should I do?  I think we can make great strides in the advancement of women in Tibet.  In the past, we Tibetan men have not paid attention to Tibetan women’s lives – their rights, status, education, and health.  We kept them working hard at home, told them they were ritually dirty, and didn’t give them the chance to know the outside world or speak their minds.  Now, we must apologize for this from the depths of our hearts and at the same time, we need to do something to rectify the inequality they continue to suffer.  We Tibetan men should admit our faults to the world and promise to change, this would be an act of dignity.  Knowing one’s own faults is the greatest wisdom.  There is a Tibetan saying,

There is no tree in the forest without knots.

There is no person in the world without faults.

A tree can produce good lumber

A person can change.

As a step on the road to women’s equality in Tibet, I have organized a girls school in my home.

About the Class for the Advancement of Underprivileged Girls:

There are many generous and creative people working throughout Tibet, but one area that I feel to be lacking is in the support of the welfare and advancement of Tibetan women.  Generally speaking, there are few resources for women’s literacy, education, much needed healthcare, or career options outside of traditional female roles.   Families prefer to keep girls at home, because they are obedient and helpful around the home, so few have the chance to go to school, even now.

My work focuses upon providing healthy living conditions and education to underprivileged Tibetan girls.  In the summer of 2006, I began looking throughout Qinghai and Sichuan provinces for girls in difficult living situations who expressed interest in going to school.  I personally drove to Ngawa, Hungyen, Dzorge, Jigdril, Padma, Gabde and Dari counties and took 30 girls, aged 5-13, into my home.  Some of them were orphaned or given away by irresponsible parents.  Many of them came from families with inadequate financial resources to cover basic expenses of food, clothing or medicine.  Some have mothers or fathers suffering from chronic physical or mental illnesses, incapable of providing their basic needs.  One came from a family who is completely homeless with debt so severe that all of their possessions were taken away.

I have provided these girls with a safe, loving home.  Patient rooms in my non-profit medical clinic were converted into dormitory rooms; my mother and sister help in the girls’ daily care; the girls eat three nutritious meals a day.  Some with chronic medical conditions are finally able to receive the medicine they need.  Thanks to the kindness and support of a local principal, the girls are attending an elementary school where they are studying Chinese, Tibetan, math, traditional dance, music and art.  In the evenings my sister, an English teacher at a local middle school, teaches them English. 

The girls are thriving in their new home and it is a joy to see the 30 sisters live, play and study together so harmoniously.  In just a short time, even the girls who once had fear in their eyes are laughing and playing happily.  Without these circumstances, these girls were bound to suffer lives of tremendous hardship and little opportunity.  It is my hope that with an education and a home in a safe, loving environment, these girls will have the chance to become Tibet’s next generation of exceptional role models. 

How You Can Help:

I am appealing to you for financial support of these girls.  I hope to raise funds for continuing support of the 30 girls present as well as 70 girls yet to be recruited (if we get enough support, we hope to add up to 30 girls per year until we have a total of 100), and the construction of new facilities for supplemental classes, and expansion and improvement of current conditions.

Plans to Sustain the Project in the Future:

One plan that I have to generate future income is to build a tourist hotel in Dari.  Two years ago, in recognition of the beneficial work I was doing for the community, I bought  a piece of property in a prime location.  At that time, the property included a one-story building, which is currently rented by a local business.  As I can raise funds for this project, I hope to expand this to a three-storey hotel, complete with an internet café and restaurant.  In Dari, there is only one hotel that accommodates Westerners.  I feel that a second hotel, with better facilities, would be a lucrative business. All profits from this hotel would go to support the living and education costs of the girls.  Over time, the girls will be trained in all aspects of running the business – labor, management, bookkeeping, and customer relation’s skills.   In addition to formal education, the girls will develop valuable proficiencies that will give them more experience for their future careers.

The benefits of providing education to these girls are limitless.  At a global level, this will strengthen the community and conditions of Tibetans in general.  Learning to read and write in Tibetan means greater potential for preserving an endangered culture.  On a personal level, by cultivating new skills, they will have more access to the rest of the world; their minds will be expanded, they will develop means for building bridges between cultures, and perhaps most importantly, they will develop self-confidence that is the key to breaking down barriers of inequality.

Thank you in advance for considering my proposal.  Any support you can give is greatly appreciated.  In addition to donations of lump sums, individual sponsorships of the girls are also possible.   If I can provide further information, please contact me directly at the address below.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Dockpo Tra

tradockpo@hotmail.com

From: Tra Dockpo [mailto:tradockpo@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thu 12/20/2007 11:51 PM
To: William Oppenheim
Subject: report from Dockpo

Dear Willy,  Thank you for the countiue supporting Golok girls school in Tibet,
[...]
We need three full-time teachers and one full-time headmaster to run the school for 12 months.
Three teachers they teach 10 months but we need pay for full year.
They will teach a little English, Tibetan, Chinese, maths, art, singing and dance.
The headmaster will take care of whatever paperwork needed by the local government, and purchasing and arrangement for daily operations and special events.

The salary for the headmaster is 3,000 RMB each month.  The teachers' salary is up to you.   I think we can find teachers to take the job for 1,000 RMB per month, but this salary is actually very low especially if you consider it doesn't include health insurance or pension benefit.  Actually, given the economy of the place, a salary of 2,000 RMB per month is fair.  The government recently raised salaries of government workers, so the prices of things followed, making life more expensive for everyone.
If we pay 1,000 RMB/ month each teacher 3,000  RMB for teachers + 3,000 RMB for headmaster = 6,000 RMB per month, or 72,000 annually.  At 7.5 RMB/$, that would be $800 per month, or $9,600 annually.

If we can pay 2,000  RMB each month the monthly total is 9,000  RMB or $1,200.  Annual Total 108,000 RMB or $14,400.

The other thing we want most is I really need to finsh that library in this coming summer, because all the local schools are waiting for a great library that all can share.

Thank you very much for your help and cooperation
Yours sincerely
Dockpo
______________________________________________________________

From: Tra Dockpo [mailto:tradockpo@hotmail.com]
Sent: Fri 5/18/2007 11:27 PM
To: William Oppenheim
Subject: RE: Hello Willy, it is Dockpo

Dear Willy and friends,

Thank you very much for your offer to help.  Its really great.  I'm
especially happy one of you can to come and see yourself what we doing
there.  You can give me better suggestions that way.  Also, if you see
yourself, we will have more confidence in each other and be more comfortable
in our cooperation.

As for the choice of how to use the money, it is like this:  Actually, we
need the school supplies most of the all the kinds of help you offered.  But
it is a small amount and we can probably get it from someone else, or from a
number of peoples small donations.  I am very excited to have the chance to
build our library this year.  Originally our plan to put the books in a room
we already have, just for storage, not any space for reading the books
there.  But with this money we can make an addition to our main building and
make a good library with reading room.  It will be a 35 square meter
addition of good quality, and will cost about 50,000 RMB, or $6435.  that
doesn't include furniture or books.  If we can do this, it will be great.  I
hope all the Tibetan students can use the books from our library.  There
will only be room for our own girls to study there, but others can come and
boorow books.

The books you can get for us are English childrens books.  Including board
books because they are longer lasting, but also story books and picture
books.  Easy books because English is not their language.  If you can get
donations of used books like this, it woudl be great, how much you can
bring.  For Chinese and Tibetan language books, it is easier for us to buy
them.

I am flying back to Tibet may 29, and I will arrive Xining June 1, and I
will be buying the materials for building a toilet and cafeteria, which are
supported by other donors.  The ground is already warm enough, so we can
start building already.  We will start the building about June 7.
[...]
I am so greatful for your wonderful help in this project.  Thank you so
much.  I wont let you down.
Thank you again,
Yours
Dockpo

__________________________________________________
 

-----Original Message-----
From: tradockpo@hotmail.com
To: wopp77@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 8 May 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: more datails from Dockpo

Dear Willy, 
 
The school is located in Jimai Town (the county seat), Dari county Golok Prefecture, Qinghai Province. 
 
The girls are attending the local township’s Tibetan language elementary school where they are studying Chinese, Tibetan, math,, art (occasionally) and physical education. The classes are taught in a combination of Tibetan and Chinese language. They live in the former in-patient housing of our health clinic (which is not accepting inpatients at this time). Our place is separated from the Tibetan elementary school only by the campus of the Chinese language elementary school. In the evenings and on Saturdays my sister, an English teacher at a local middle school, teaches them English. Other teachers come to teach traditional dance, music, art (drawing) and Buddhist prayers. We hope to add computer classes eventually. 
 
Our girls’ home is not officially a school in itself. It is like a branch of the local school that already exists. The government school opened maybe thirty years ago or more,. Our girls home/class started last summer (2006).  Some teachers and leaders in local schools are very bad, so we are very careful about choosing which teachers of the local school teach our girls. We have a very good relationship with the leaders of the local school,, partly because my father was a great, very well respected teacher in the local Tibetan middle school. The local leaders of the school are also grateful for the fundraising we can do for the other students and the school as a whole. There is an official term for this kind of relationship between a private benefactor and a government school these days. It is called “government run – private supported.” While one day we could establish a fully functioning branch school on our campus, where all classes are taught, we don’t feel that is the best use of funds at this early stage. Actually, the school is of very poor quality for a number of reasons I won’t go into here, but we also hope, with this close collaboration, we can improve the quality of teaching for all the students of the school. Even last summer, we were able to host 10 Han Chinese volunteers who all spent some time teaching in local schools. Many teachers went to observe their classes and learned from them in terms of both method and content. 
 
About the Class for the Advancement of Underprivileged Girls: 
There are many generous and creative people working throughout Tibet, but one area that I feel to be lacking is in the support of the welfare and advancement of Tibetan women. Generally speaking, there are few resources for women’s literacy, education, much needed healthcare, or career options outside of traditional female roles. Families prefer to keep girls at home, because they are obedient and helpful around the home, so few have the chance to go to school, even now. Even for those who attend school, because there are so many more boys in their classes, and because of cultural attitudes seeing women as lower, they have a difficult time succeeding in school. That is why we feel a separate class of all girls, complemented with remedial tutoring where needed and additional instruction in a variety of topics neglected in the government school is the best way to give these girls a solid foundation of learning and a breadth of experience that will serve them well in the future. 
[...]  we are paying everything for the 30 girls so far – clothing, food, housing, heat, medical expenses, transportation, textbooks so none of the girls pays any tuition or any other fee. 
 
It is my hope that with an education and a home in a safe, loving environment, these girls will have the chance to become Tibet’s next generation of exceptional role models. 
 
Your friends are welcome any time . This summer my work focuses upon construction. 
Look forward to hearing more from you. 
Your sincerely, 
Dockpo